[pete b]

If the weather is nice, I brew outside.  Bees are my annoyance (they're attracted to the sweet smell of wort) so I stir in a bit of DME into an Erlenmeyer flask of water.  The bees enter but cannot get out.  I feel bad about it but its not worth getting stung.

Do you have a severe reaction to bee stings? Otherwise it seems pretty unnecessary. I also doubt it decreases your chance of getting stung which is already minimal if your careful to not crush or swat a bee.